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June 4, 2008

Time To Complain To ESPN

Whenever I find out that ESPN is broadcasting the night's Red Sox game, I'm always annoyed. I end up watching most (if not all) of the game on mute as I cannot stand the pompous, ignorant, cliche-spouting drivel that issues forth from Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Phillips and the rest of the hectoring idiots that somehow have secured employment at the self-proclaimed "worldwide leader in sports".

In the bottom of the sixth inning of last night's game against Tampa, ESPN cut away from Coco Crisp's at-bat to show Ken Griffey pinch-hitting for the Reds in Philadelphia. (Griffey's next home run will be his 600th.)

During the Griffey at-bat, ESPN completely ignored the Red Sox/Rays game. The network did not use a little box in the corner of the screen to keep tabs on Crisp's AB, so that fans who had been forced to watch ESPN in the first place could continue watching the game.

And ESPN had the gall to refer to the Griffey AB on the screen as "Bonus Coverage". Bullshit! It was not bonus anything -- it was being shown INSTEAD OF what the station should have been showing in the first place. I received nothing extra from ESPN; indeed, they deprived me of something.

Griffey ended up walking and we were taken back to Fenway. Crisp had reached first base on an infield single, but ESPN never bothered to show a replay of the hit for the viewers that had missed it -- i.e., 100% of their viewers.

It should be very simple: If ESPN is going to broadcast a game, it should BROADCAST THE GAME -- the entire game. If I cannot watch the entire Red Sox game on ESPN, then it should allow me to watch it on NESN or FSN-Tampa on the Extra Innings cable package.

If this bothered you as much as it bothered me, please call ESPN complain. Finding an actual phone number for ESPN is very difficult -- I wonder why.

Try one or both of these numbers:

860.766.2000

860.766.2236

This number -- 877.466.6669 -- might also be worth calling. If anyone know of a better number, post it in comments and I'll update this info.

ESPN's customer service email is "support@espn.go.com". Its phone number for billing is 888-549-3776. If all else fails, you could call that and try to get transferred.

What I really need is a number for its corporate offices -- to complain about coverage. I question whether complaining to a customer service person would ever get mentioned to a supervisor and passed on. Maybe if there were enough calls ...

You're lucky Griffey didn't hit his 600th HR. It's worse with no-hitters. During Jon Lester's no-hitter, ESPN was doing a game at Wrigley Field, and they cut away from Wrigley for the entire 9th inning and about 5 minutes after the final out.

I hate to argue against you, but they cut away from a game last week to show Manny attempt 500 and I was certainly glad they did, since I live out of market and wouldn't have been able to see Manny's attempts, except on MLB's Gameday, which is decidedly less exciting. I do agree though that the announcers should have recapped what the viewers had missed.

It'd be nice if they'd show a picture-in-picture, then. Even if they put a little box in the lower right-hand corner of the current game. But I think the point is, if you're going to show a game, and you're telling people you're going to show a game, you've got to show that game in its entirety.

One thing ESPN has been doing is showing live at-bats for potential milestone home runs on ESPN2. Why couldn't they say hey, Griffey's up swinging for 600, and we'll show you it live on ESPN2 while we stay here at Fenway Park on ESPN for this game.

I called...I agree. ESPN has four channels (or more---); the proper place for "breaking news" is ESPNXtra , the news channel. I understand breaking away for Lester's no-hitter or Bonds breaking Babe's record, but really, who gives a rat's ass about anyone's 600th home run? If they have to break away, ESPN is obligated to have a small screen carrying the game that was scheduled.

By the way, DIRECT TV, thank god, did allow me to watch NESN, otherwise the silky, vapid, stupid tones of Sutcliffe would have driven me to watch "So You THink You CAn Dance?" or "Wife Swap."

Actually, Sutcliffe doesn't grate on me *that* much.But, ESPN's Joe Morgan and Jon Miller ... oh, my GAWD ... they are *terrible*! I hate it when those two do a Red Sox game. I've done the same. I've just put the TV on mute and put on a CD. Morgan just sort of rambles and babbles and argues every point to death and ultimately ends up not making any sense (I've come to think of him as the Bill Walton of baseball), while Miller is just an idiot.

I hate to argue against you, but they cut away from a game last week to show Manny attempt 500 and I was certainly glad they did, since I live out of market and wouldn't have been able to see Manny's attempts, except on MLB's Gameday, which is decidedly less exciting. I do agree though that the announcers should have recapped what the viewers had missed.

Why wouldn't a box or a split-screen be adequate? You'd get to see the home run, and the rest of the viewers who were watching a game could continue doing so. They obviously have the technology to do that, since they do it all the time.

On the subject of Morgan and Miller...remember the game they covered when they had the stop watch going and went over how early on a batter reacted to a pitch/time of contact? That was unbearable, and they did it like 15 times.